Repair of rail joints in track



Nov.3, 1936. G. LANGFORD REPAIR OF RAIL JOINTS IN TRACK Filed Aug. 10, 1933 A 1 J1 J41 Patented Nov. 3, 1936 a 2,059,529

UNITED [STATES PATENT OFFICE REPAIR OF RAIL JOINTS IN TRACK George Langiord, Joliet, Ill., assignor to McKenna Process Company of Illinois, Joliet, 111., a cor poration of Illinois a Application August 10, 1933, Serial No. 684,527

2 Claims. (01.238-164) I My invention has to do with railroad track and faces 3-5 and3'--5 being restored to substanmore particularly with the repair of track joints tiaily their original level. Figure 2.is an end view after they have become worn. I employ a method of rail end I showing the metal welded on to a of repairing the worn joints in the track to avoid depth 54 at the extreme end. As far as track 5 taking up the rails, and so that repairs can be surface not under load is considered, the joint 5 made better -.and more easily than ordinarily, was apparently thus put in first-class repair.

thereby encouraging first-class upkeep of track However, when under load the repaired joint and not permitting it to reach a rough riding and became depressed because of fishing surface wear. unsatisfactory condition. As is well known, the fishing surface wear of a My invention is an improvement on my Reissue joint occurs for a restricted length at its center 10- Patent No. 17,743 reissued July 22, 1930 out of portion, there being little or no wear at the end the original Patent No. 1,670,515, filed August 27, portions. In Fig. 3, a fragmentary side view of 1927 and issued May 22, 1928. the upper half ofa worn rail joint, the tops of The present invention is to some extent a spethe rail ends are depressed as in Figure 1. There cific application of the method shown in my Reis also fishing surface wear 8-1-1 '-'-8'9, part 15 issue Patent --17,743, with the addition that the of which is fishing wear of the joint bar, the balbar is designed to make novel use of certain conance being fishing wear on the under head surditions present in the worn rail ends. The comface of each rail end. The heads of the rail ends bination, as I will explain further, produces cerbei unsupported yield under load making rough tain new and useful results which will be readily riding track, even though the rail-head tops be 2 understood by those familiar with the art from repaired by the welding on of metal as in Figure 1. the following description and accompanying As a partial remedy, the worn joint bars were drawing, in which: replaced with ,new ones of ordinary type, but

Figures 1 to 6, inclusive, are side and end views although this compensated for wear of the bar,

5 of fragmentary upper portions of worn rail joints the wear of the rail ends 8-'-l--|'-8' still left illustrating the prior art of repairing them by the rail-heads unsupported, permitting depression rail-top welding and the use of specially shaped of the joint under load as before and rapid deteribars; oration.

Figure 7 is side view of an ordinary worn rail My Reissue Patent 17,743, previously referred 0 joint; to, aimed to remedy this. To compensate for Figure 8 is aside view of a worn rail joint being the fishing wear of the rail ends as well as the repaired according to the present invention; corresponding fishing surface of the bar, the Figure 91s}; side view of a worn rail joint fully common type of bar ordinarily used was replaced repaired according to the present invention. by a bar crowned to above normal fishing height The present invention is in accordance with the as its center portion to compensate for the fishing 35 increased attention now being given by'railroad surface wear of the rail ends as well as that of engineers to the upkeep of rail joints. Rough the bar. Metal was then welded onto the tops riding track is due largely to worn joints, and to of the rail ends to a level surface. This method maintain smooth riding track the joints must be 'is shown in Figure 5, which is a side fragmentary 40 not only in first-class condition originally, but view of the upper half of a repaired rail joint. 40 must be kept so. Although less than at the top, there is also rail In times past, it was accepted as an unavoidand barjishing wear at the bottom of the joint. able evil that in spite of ordinary care and atten- The drawings of my Reissue Patent 17,743 illustion, rail joints would wear and become *low" or trate the wear at bottom and the bar is crowned depressed under load and the tops of the rail there at at the top to compensate for rail and bar 45 ends become battered, finally necessitating taking fishing surface wear at bottom, making, theoretiup the rails for removal to rerolling or coldsawing cally at least, a completely repaired rail ,omt.

' plants where a foot or more of each battered end However actual practice was a departure from would be out off. This method was troublesome this method. The great bulk of bars reformed and costly, and not satisfactory. With the adby me were not intentionally crowned at the bot- 5o vent of "torch welding" came a new practice as tom, the reforming dies being designed tomake illustrated in Figure 1 which is a side view of the 'the bottom. fishing surface straight; that is, to fragmentary portions of two worn rail ends land make the bottom fishing surface in one plane I repaired by welding new metal 3-4-5 and throughout its length. The resultant bars were l'--4'5' onto their tops by a torch 6, the surpresumably straight inasmuch as the reforming 55 dies were made so, but gradually it became apparent that many of these bars were accidentally crowned or irregular at the bottom, due to the variability in the reforming pressure resulting from various conditions of wear. The uncertainty of results in track suggested greater uniformity in the bottom fishing surface of the reformed bar, an improvement made possible by the method of reforming disclosed in my Reissue Patent 18,165, reissued August 25, 1931 from the original Patent No. 1,712,506, filed March 20, 1929, the latter forming a divisional application from one filed July 16, 1926. This is a method of applying indirect pressure so as to reform properly the bottom fishing surface of a bar. To insure uniformity in the top fishing surface, I employed a method disclosed in my Patent No. 1,808,468, filed March 24, 1930 and issued June 2, 1931, this being a divisional application out of an original filed April 10, 1929. With these methods I secured satisfactory results. Many of these bars were used in conjunction with rail top welding, to effect the complete repair of a worn rail joint, but in a novel manner, due largely to the design of the bottom fishing surface and its relationship to the worn rail ends.. As is well known, it is a difficult thing to prove the practical advantages of new types of bars, and as a rule, these must be determined from the results secured in actual service, these results in the present instance becoming more clearly defined, the more closely I maintained the bottom fishing surface of the bar to a predetermined design. It is now obvious that new and valuable features previously appearing occasionally in joints repaired with crowned bars, were due mainly to the bars of a predetermined design thereby accomplishing a new and useful result. This design is directed particularly to the bottom fishing surface of the bar for use on worn rail ends.

Figure '7 is a side view of a worn rail joint whose upper portion is similar to that shown in Figure 3. An examination of the lower portion shows that the joint as a whole is depressed, the rail ends being slightly drooped or bent downward in what appears to be a permanent set, for a mere tamping up of the joint ties does not restore the top of the rail ends to a permanent level. Bars have been designed to lift the drooped rail ends, but I know of none that have any control over lifting too much, so as to make the repaired joint too high instead of too low, as it was before. To make smooth-riding track, the tops of the rail ends when under load should be level. The bar used in my invention raises the drooped rail ends to a predetermined height. Once the bar is bolted up and the joint repaired, it is impossible to transform it into a too high joint, this control not being present, as far as I am aware, in any other bar designed to raise drooped rail ends.

In speaking of a crowned bar, I mean abar having at least one of its top and bottom fishing surfaces higher at the center than at the ends,

and the fishing height of the bar greaterat its center than at its ends. Inasmuch as I aim. to reduce or at least not to increase the number of surfaces abrading upon one another in the joint, it is important that the crowned surface be not a separate piece but an integral part of the bar itsel f. In present day track made of steel rails fastened to wooden ties, there is always a wave motion or progressive deflection in the rails under heavy train loads,'and thiswave motion occasions some movement of the joint bars upon the rail aoaaeaa ends. For this and other reasons it is not desirable to repair the joint wear of important track with patches or liners, each one of which presents two more abrading surfaces, an increase of 50% over the four wearing surfaces already present in a bar in a joint. My method of repairing a worn joint has all of the changes necessary included integrally in the bar itself so as to avoid the necessity for any patchwork or multiplicity of abrading surfaces.

To facilitate an understanding of my further description, it should be borne in mind that my invention employs a bar having top and bottom rail fishing contact throughout its length or at least for substantial lengths of its end portions and center portion sufficient to meet the requirement of moment length. When finally bolted tight to the rail ends, the bar because of its center and end fishing engagement, is rigidly secured in the joint. Certain other types of joints provide for rail fishing contact clearance at the center portions or end portions of one or both fishing surfaces permitting variations in their functions by manipulations of the joint bolts, particularly the end ones, after the joint has been in service. The bar used in my invention does not perform them, as I will explain. In the prior art, bars designed for use on worn rails, have in some instances taken note of bottom fishing wear in a joint and the reformed bar was crowned at bottom to compensate for the bottom wear of both the bar and the rail ends. The figures of my Reissue Patent No. 17,743 are so drawn. The prior art has also figured bars crowned at the top only, but such figures have disclosed in effect nothing more than that the bottom fishing wear is comparatively slight and may be disregarded. Whether the bar is perfectly straight or not at bottom is not defined, and in no respect is there disclosure of any advantageous results to be gained by the use of a straight bottomed bar on worn rail ends. The present invention herein completely discloses the peculiar advantages gained by a bar uncrowned at bottom, used in conjunction with the bottom fishing surfaces of worn rail ends. This advantage is a final lifting of the drooped rail ends to overcome their permanent set and to restore the drooped rail ends I to substantially their original level.

In Figure 7, it will be seen that there is a gap lll8--l |'I2I2' at the bottom of the worn joint, due to the droop of the rail ends and to the wear of the bar and rail fishing surfaces. Fishing surface wear at bottom is ordinarily less than at the top, so much so that in the past, bar reforming practice was directed to the top fishing surface of the bar, the wear of the bottom fishing surfaces of bars and rails being considered slight and of no great consequence, seeing that the reformed bars were not being used in important main lines but in secondary track. However there has grown to beademand for greater accuracy in reformed bars and the matter of repairing joints while in trackis now receiving extraordinary attention, thisapplying to main lines as well as less important track,torch welding being .a largefactor in such repair work. My invention greatly; reduces, and ,ir .v some cases entirely. dispenses with the ordinary welding on of metalto the tops of the rail ends. j 5

tion and I end portions when.- finally bolted tight to the rail ends. .{I'he bar is, crowned on itstop The bar used inmy inventionis a crowned bar so designed that it will. haveltopiand bottom fish- .ing contact with-worn rail ends at its center'porperienced, but actually uncrowned so as to se-' cure a new and useful result in its application and relation to the bottom fishing surface of worn rail ends. Such a bar is shown at it in Figure 8 which is a side view of the worn joint of Figure '7 wherein the worn bar has been replaced by the reformed bar of my invention. The reformed bar of Figure 8 is fitted to the worn rail ends but the bolts are not yet finally tightened up. Before describing my invention fully, I wish to make clearly understood that all of the figures in the drawings have their conditions of joint wear purposely exaggerated as can be readily seen by those familiar with theart. The depths of wear on the tops of the rail ends and on the central fishing surfaces of the bars and the rail ends are really much less than shown, and the depression or droop of the rail ends isless, also longer and less abrupt. The figures are intended to emphasize the damage done by wear and my method of repairing it. That amounts of wear small in vertical measurement do great damage is well known by users of rail joints. It is not my intention to encourage the repair of joints as badly worn as the drawing indicates but to maintain them before extreme wear occurs, although this does not preclude repairing ev'en badly worn joints to first-class condition.

In fitting up the bar to the rail ends, the first step of which is shown in Fig. 8, the top fishing surface of the bar first contacts the rail ends at the crown 8--'l--l".-8', the bottom fishing surface engaging with the rail ends at its ends. Due to the droop in the rail ends and their bottom fishing wear, there will be space ll--i8--ii' l2'l2 at bottom as shown in' Fig. 7, and this space must be closed before top as well as bottom fishing contact with the rail ends can be secured. However it is important that the space be not closed too soon as would occur if the bar's bottom fishing surface be crowned at the bottom as well as at the top. In the present invention the bars bottom fishing surface is made uncrowned. To effect a final filling in of the bottom central fishing space, it may be first stated that bars ordinarily used have considerable vertical stiffness and also springiness, the latter resulting mainly from hot-quenching in oil. Under suificient vertical pressure the bar may deflect slightly downward but due to its springiness, the bar then presents greatly increased opposition to further deflection. Another feature of importance is that the fishing surfaces of the bars and the rail ends are inclined about 14 degrees. This is shown in only Figures 4 and 6, all of the side views omitting it to simplify the drawing. It is obvious that if the bar of Fig. 8 be applied to the rail ends of Fig. '7, the first fishing contact between the bar and the rail ends will occur at the top central portion. of the bar and its bottom ends. bolts are tightened the bar rises, riding upward and inward as its bottom ends engage the inclined fishing surfaces of the rails. In Fig. 8, the bar will rise as the bolts are tightened as long as its top fishing surface is out of rail contact at its end portions, and the dropped rail ends will be forced upward by the top central fishing contact as lon at least as there is not tight rail and bar fishing contact at the bottom center. It may be here emphasized that Fig. 8 like the other figures, is

rail ends.

When the exaggerated. The tops of the rail ends appear to be battered down, whereas in the average worn joint, the greater part of what railroad men used to think was batter was merely droop, most of which I find may be removed to a predetermined level in a novel manner, whose final and most important stage, I will now describe. In Fig. 8, the rail ends may be raised by further tightening of the end bolts on account of the absence of top end fishing contact, and if there be tight central fish ing contact at top and bottom, top fishing contact at the end portions of the bars'may be secured only by flexing the ends of the barinward by tightening the end bolts as taught in Thomson 1,208,698. The bar I employ is in general similar to that shown in Fig. 2 of Thomson, but with two important exceptions. Firstly, the bar as a whole is of normal or above normal fishing height, in addition to which, the central portion of the top fishing surface is crowned with additional metal so that it may be applied to worn rail ends. Secondly, I prefer to have the bar laterally straight when finally bolted into the joint, the lower fishing height at the ends as compared with the center being used to fit the bar to worn rail ends, and not to obtain a central clamping effect by inward end fiexure under end bolt tension. From my observations, I find that the forces acting on the center of a joint are so enormous that any clamping or spring action directed at the ends of a bar are too impositive to accomplish any effect of'consequence at center, and I desire'to avoid if possible placing the bar under injurious permanent strains when not under load. Preferably the bar of Fig.8 has no more or less lateral curvature than when it is finally bolted to the I do not wish to limit myself in any way to non-flexing of the bar ends, as some cases may make its, employment advantageous, but in general I prefer not to place the bar under any permanent lateral bending strains if possible. However I may employ the Thomson end flexing feature to a moderate extent to overcome slight variations of joint wear in a track, even though I prefer to avoid end flexing as far as possible, by changing the height of the top crowning or the fishing height of the bar throughout its length, or both, to suit conditions of joint wear in other track as I find them. Returning to the final stage of my invention, as stated previously, most of the so-called batter or downward depression of the rail ends in a worn joint, is a comparatively gradual droop, some of which has been removed as in Fig. 8. However, this droop .is in part a permanent set which resists further raising more strongly as the bolts are further tightened. It is essential that the central bottom and end top fishing gaps be closed, and to accomplish this, either the rail ends must yield and rise further with further bolt tightening, or else the bar must yield and deflect downward assuming a slight longitudinal convexity conforming to the slight longitudinal concavity of the bottom fishing surface of the two rail ends. Some yielding of bar and rail ends may occur, although in moderate cases of joint wear the rail ends only appear to yield. However if the bar be forced to yield it becomes a spring strongly opposing any further downward deflection. This slight yielding of the rail ends or bar or both appears to be suificient as far as I have been able to determine by trial and experiment, and a final tightening up of the bolts closes the bottom central and top end fishing gaps. To fulfill the conditions described so as to obtain the result shown in Fig. 9, it is ap- 111 aoaaaaa parent that certain closely prescribed conditions must be adhered to. The bar throughout its length may be of normal fishing height for moderately worn rail ends or above normal fishing height for badly worn rail ends, but its top center portion must be crowned and its bottom surface must be uncrowned. The rail ends must be worn so that the uncrowned bottom center of the bar will provide space on final fitting to oppose any permanent set in the drooped rail ends, as previously described. This space must bear close relationship to the top end fishing spaces so that there will be tight fishing contact at the bottom center and at the tops of the end portions when the bolts are finally made tight. A shaping and shortening of the top crown appears to give better results than a longer crown, although this requires further experimentation.

In Figure 9, the joint bars have been finally tightened up, bringing the top end fishing surfaces of the bar in fishing contact with the rail ends, and substantially closing the central gap at bottom. The rail ends are now raised to their full height and can be raised no higher during the life of the joint, the top end fishing contact preventing further lifting effect. It will be seen that this is an important feature, as it prevents lifting of the rail ends beyond a predetermined height and to such an extent as to make the joint lumpy. Utilization of the slight bottom fishing surface wear of the rail ends is another novel and important feature, providing as it does, a tendency to oppose or remove slight set in the previously drooped rail ends.

Referring again to Figure 8, my aim is to close the bottom central fishing gap and the top end fishing gaps simultaneously, so that the joint will have fishing contact at these portions when the joint bolts are finally tightened up. If the top end gaps remain open the rail ends may not have been fully lifted, and the effective moment length of the bar may be insufficient. If the bottom central gap be left open, the fit of the joint under load will be reduced to below the requirement for a minimum of vertical play at center between the fishing surfaces of the bars and rail ends when the joint is under load.

The final effect-of a bar crowned at the top only and in accordance with my invention, as shown in Figure 9, is to shorten the length of depression at the rail tops to 5-! and 5'-|9' and to reduce the depth of depression at the extreme ends of the rails, so that the amount of metalto be welded on is very small, as may be noted by a comparison of Figures 9 and 5. The fact is that the depressed portions 4-5l9 and 4'-5'I9' of Figure 9 are really batter; that is, the metal of the rail head is crushed out of shape by train wheel pounding. Such a condition is not reached to any great extent until there is some fishing wear or yielding in the joint. If the joint be repaired before appreciable batter begins there would be little or no batter and the welding on of metal to the tops of the rail ends might be dispensed with altogether. The perfected method for properly maintaining important track is to make comparatively frequent repairs of the bars to the design shown in Figures 8 and 9, and dispense with rail top welding. More worn tracks with battered rail ends may be treated as in Figure 9, the amount of welding required being greatly reduced as compared with ordinary previous practice, although even in badly worn joints if the track'be under secondary or light service low joints may be so improved,

- ened up after the joint has been in service.

even without rail-top welding, as to give fairly satisfactory service. In such cases, the worn bar may be reformed to the design described, the crowned top being greater vertically than for use in only moderately worn joints, and the bottom fishing surface being straight and in some cases slightly concaved at its center portion, no more however than would permit rail fishing contact when the joint bolts are made tight.

In the reforming of worn bars, I have varied the amount of crowning to suit various conditions of worn track. For joints moderately worn, a crown in amount between to thousandths of an inch has been sufficient. For badly worn joints, the crown has been increased to between 50 and 60 thousandths. In designing the crown,

I have secured the best results by making it short longitudinally so as to secure ample lifting effect at the center free from interference of tight fishing contact between center and ends.

The design features in a bar such as I have described depart only slightly from a bar of ordinary type in their dimensions, but these slight differences are extremely important. A joint fit which yields vertically under load more than 3 or 4 thousandths of an inch does not fulfill the conditions required of a first class track. It will be appreciated from the preceding description that in the bar of my invention I deal with changes small in measurement, but closely controlled so as to secure predetermined results. Briefly, my invention is a specific method of repairing worn rail joints without removing the rails from track. A bar of particular design is employed and the fishing surface wear of the rail ends at the bottom center portion is used in the final fitting to oppose set in the drooped rail ends and to lift the rail ends to a predetermined level requiring a minimum of top rail surface welding on of metal, which latter in some cases of only moderately worn joints, may be dispensed with altogether. An important feature of my bar is that it gauges the lift of drooped rail ends to a predetermined height, making it impossible to have too high joints such as might otherwise occur at any time when the end bolts are tight- The bar of my invention may readily be reformed from a worn bar; also it may be rolled as a new bar, the crowning of the top fishing surface being done in the rolling process or after rolling, and the bar section for convenience in manufacture being made of substantially uniform cross sectional contour throughout its length. There may be intermediate rail fishing clearances as indicated by dotted lines a: in Figs. 8 and 9 but it is essential that the completely repaired joint have tight fishing contact for substantial lengths of its center portion and end portions at top and bottom.

What I claim is:

1. The herein described method of repairing in track a Worn rail joint in which the rail ends are worn and drooped, the same consisting in first positioning in the fishing spaces a splice bar provided with a straight undeformed bottom surface overlying the rail flanges and a top surface having a central projecting crown shaped to register with the wear depressions at the undersides of the rail heads after the raising of the drooped ends, the said bar being of less fishing height toward its end portions than at the ends of said crown leaving an initial clearance of such portions from the rail heads, said clearance being of an extent approximately equal to the rise of the rail ends onthe crown until arrested by the engagement of the end portions of the bar with the rail heads and the engagement of the rail flange ends with the center bottom portion of the bar whereby the top surfaces of the rails are returned into substantial alignment.

2. The herein described method of repairing in track a worn rail joint in which the rail ends are worn and drooped, the same consisting in first positioning in the fishing spaces a splice bar provided with a straight undeformed bottom surface overlying the rail flanges and a top surface having a central projecting crown shaped to register with the wear depressions at the undersides of the rail heads after the raising of the height toward its end portions than at the ends,

of said crown leaving an initial clearance of such portions from the rail heads, said clearance being of an extent approximately equal to the amount of the wear at the upper sides of the ends of the rail flanges, applying an initial bolting pressure on the bar thereby to cause the drooped rail ends to rise on said crown, next finally tightening the bolts causing a further rise of the rail ends on the crown until arrested by the engagement of the end portions of the bar with the rail heads and the engagement of the rail flange ends with the center bottom portion of the bar whereby the top surfaces of the rails are returned into substantial alignment, and then welding metal onto the top corners of the rail ends to restore the original level surface.

GEORGE LANGFORD. 20 

